This invention relates generally to the field of providing metered, electric power service to residences and other habitable structures, and more specifically to the providing of temporary, metered, electric service to a construction site during the time of construction of a habitable structure.
The prior methods of underground installation of electric power service to a residence or other habitable structure consist of a typical pattern of labor and equipment visits to the residence site, an example of each pattern being typically as follows: (i) in the early stages of construction of the residence, electric power is made available to construction crews from a temporary electric service meter outfitted with power outlets and circuit breakers (sometimes, collectively called a "stubout") located at of near the construction site (for example, at the street); and the electricity drawn through the stubout is metered at a relatively low, construction rate; (ii) in the process of construction, the permanent power distribution network (i.e. wiring, breakers outlets, switches, etc.) of the residence is installed throughout the residence, a permanent meter box is mounted to the residence, and the permanent wiring is connected to the permanent meter base at the permanent meter box; (iii) at an appropriate time, the construction crew calls the power company and requests that the power lines be extended to the residence permanent meter box, for example, at a time prior to the installing of the lawn or driveway; (iv) once called to extend the lines to the house, a "cut-in crew" comprising two or three laborers, digging equipment and wire splicing equipment makes an initial trip during which a service wire is layed, by digging a trench and burying the wire, extending from the temporary stubout to the location of the permanent meter box; (v) it is very often not legally possible for the power company to connect the service line to the permanent meter box at the time of this initial visit by the cut-in crew, since a building inspector must have approved the permanent wiring before the power company may connect the live service wire to the residential wiring, and the reality of the construction site is that coordination of wiring completion, utility crew availability, lawn and yard installation timing, and building inspectors availability is seldom precise; (vi) thus, if the inspector has not arrived prior to laying of the service line, the construction crew must either go without power or the temporary stubout must be left in place, and in the latter case, the service line, though layed and buried, must be left with at least its source end un-buried and un-connected, awaiting another time for completed connection; (vii) in the event the construction crew elected to continue using the stubout, a second trip by a power company cut-in crew and its equipment is necessary after the inspector's approval in order to make the final connections of the service line to the residence, and this trip requires virtually the same equipment and time as the initial visit by the cut-in crew; (viii) during this final visit of the cut-in crew, the permanent meter is mounted at the permanent meter base and is set with the residential meter rate (or other appropriate consumer rate), which is relatively higher than the construction rate.
The prior methods of overhead installation are similar to the above outlined pattern for underground installation, and include an initial trip to hang the service wire to the residence, and, if temporary service was still needed while waiting for the inspector, or for some other reason, then a second trip, utilizing virtually the same personnel and equipment is necessary in order to disconnect the temporary stub-out service from the power pole and connect the service line permanently to the residence.
It should be clear that the foregoing pattern of installation is very inefficient and expensive, making inefficient use of expensive laborers and equipment. In some construction scenarios, it is possible to combine steps and eliminate some of the efficiency; however, prior to the present invention, there remained the need to find a satisfactory manner to eliminate the inefficiencies resulting from the conflicts between the contractor's planning,the availability of the utility's cut-in-crews, and the government inspector's availability.